Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) and Bowen Acquisition (NASDAQ:BOWN) Head-To-Head Survey

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) and Bowen Acquisition (NASDAQ:BOWN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Bowen Acquisition”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$275.66 million	6.45	$231.01 million	$3.10	6.41
Bowen Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Bowen Acquisition.

Profitability

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Bowen Acquisition’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	60.60%	12.57%	6.36%
Bowen Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

59.3% of Bowen Acquisition shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Bowen Acquisition, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0	5	1	0	2.17
Bowen Acquisition	0	0	0	0	N/A

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus target price of $21.42, indicating a potential upside of 7.73%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than Bowen Acquisition.

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats Bowen Acquisition on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is a business development company. It is a non-diversified, externally managed specialty finance company focused on lending to middle-market companies. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is based in NEW YORK.

About Bowen Acquisition

Bowen Acquisition Corp does not have significant operations. It intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The company was incorporated in 2023 and is based in New York, New York.